A Call To Leadership

EP276: On Mission in Africa with Rihannon Beauchamp and Travis Revelle

• Dr. Nate Salah

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One step of obedience can change countless lives. In this moving episode, Pastor Rhiannon Beauchamp shares her solo mission to Tanzania, where she prayed with children with disabilities, supported persecuted albino students, and brought joy through presence, not just provision. From dancing in the rain to witnessing miracles of hope, her journey is a reminder that faith in action speaks louder than words. Tune in to hear how showing up with love can spark lasting transformation.

Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • Why Rhiannon’s return meant more than words to the schools she visited
  • How a stormy celebration became a symbol of unstoppable joy
  • The surprising impact of showing up where no one else had
  • How can a single wheelchair transform a life (and a community)
  • What happens when we silence God’s nudge in our daily rush


Resources Mentioned In This Episode

 

About Rhiannon Beauchamp
Rhiannon is a passionate minister, speaker, and community leader who serves as the Campus Pastor at Faith Church’s Earth City campus in St. Louis. With a heart for radical love, inclusion, and service, she leads Born to Shine, a vibrant ministry for individuals with special needs and disabilities, creating joyful, Christ-centered experiences for families who often feel overlooked. Rhiannon’s mission is rooted in daily surrender to God’s calling, with a focus on action over words and love without limits. Her passion for global outreach recently led her to launch initiatives in Africa, where she’s working to combat harmful stigmas and bring hope to marginalized families, all while pointing them to the love of Jesus.
 

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[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend, and welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership special treat for you. We've invited Pastor Ree to come back Rihannon Beauchamp to tell us about her trip that we helped to sponsor in Africa with special needs children. Oh, my goodness. How heartwarming heart-wrenching these situations are. And our call to give generously of our time talent treasures as we support our. Our missions, our ministry partners in these Ministry moment episodes. Travis is joining me on the show. I love this time and this is a two-part episode because we just couldn't get everything in all at once. So this is part one. It's gonna bless your socks off. This is A Call to Leadership. Re, welcome back. 


[00:00:51] Rihannon Beauchamp
Hi. It's so good to be here back again. 


[00:00:54] Dr. Nate Salah
I know. It's so good to see you, Travis. Good to see you. Good to see you as well. To see you always. We are so excited to hear about your trip to Africa. Yeah. Last week of time we met you. Were preparing to go. We were praying for your journey ahead. And again, during our ministry moments, we just love to highlight God's work of love in and through those who are called to just be the people who God sees. Because sometimes, you know, the only, the only time that, that they see Jesus is the Jesus in you.


[00:01:26] Rihannon Beauchamp
Amen. 


[00:01:26] Dr. Nate Salah
So let's hear about it. 


[00:01:27] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. It was definitely the definition of his Ephesians three 20, you know, greater, you can ask, think, imagine, or request, which is awesome. And it's because. Of the people, and it was because of the needs that were being met. And really, the biggest need that I'm seeing is, I know there's so much financial need, but people do wanna be seen. Mm-hmm. Like you were saying, they wanna know, they're seen, they wanna know the, the attention. The love. And it was incredible. The seeing people again too, like. That I had seen from the last time, it was amazing too to that they knew that I had come back. Like that was one of the biggest things I kept hearing. They're like, oh my gosh, you're back. And I was like, well, I said I was gonna come back. You know, I wouldn't have said that if I didn't mean it. You know, we need to be careful when we tell people something and then. Maybe, like, we aren't gonna fulfill it. So I wanted my words to mean something because, you know, especially when we're representative of Jesus, right? Which we all are, which we're not gonna be perfect, but you know, and I'm like, yes, I'm here. I'm back. And it was so fulfilling as a dream come true. And I had such an amazing time. I, I, I'm not even sure where to begin, you know? Well, it's like, where do I start? Where do you begin? 


[00:02:40] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, actually, that's a great place to begin. Let your, let your yes. Be yes. And your no. Be no. 


[00:02:45] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yes. Amen. 


[00:02:45] Dr. Nate Salah
That's a great place to begin. And that's a, a place of integrity, right? Yeah. And so, and, and, and on top of that. It just shows that there's a such a hunger for authenticity and care. Mm-hmm. And for you to go back, I mean, it's not like it's up the street, right? It's Africa, and you're in the middle of the United States. 


[00:03:05] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. And I. By myself as well. Yeah. And so I know as a, a woman, people were like, whoa, are you sure? And I'm like, I have just this tremendous peace. And I know, people say, you know, follow the peace, follow the peace of God. And I had great people to meet up there to assist me and people that I had such a great feeling about. That, just that inner peace, you know? And when I had gone, I just felt so encouraged and so just propelled forward of like excitement that even though the plane ride was really long, I'm just, you know, the adrenaline. 'cause you're like, I'm. Stepping out in faith. Yeah, I'm doing it. You know, I am not just talking about it. I'm just making moves.


[00:03:46]
 And I knew too, as I keep making steps, like going, we talked about that too, like actually stepping out and doing it, that God will then start like opening doors and you know, so like maybe I just start within two, once I arrive, so I arrive. And, my driver, who I had met before who had some, a friend, a mutual friend, had connected me. it was just so precious. He'd like, made me a sign and got me like a bouquet of flowers, and you're just like, I knew this was gonna be incredible, you know, and he's become a close like friend and person to, you know, assist in the different things that we're doing. And so once I got in there the next day we just like hit the ground running, you know, so we had set up. Six different schools to go visit.


[00:04:28] Dr. Nate Salah
And these are, tell us, yes. Give us some context on what type of environments were you visiting? 


[00:04:33] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yes. So the different, so the whole point of it was to focus on the children with disabilities and their families and visiting the public schools, which all have special needs units, which visiting and seeing all of this, there is a tremendous amount of people with disabilities and special needs, in Tanzania and in this area. It's a city, so. We were gonna go visit with all of the schools, and so we just started with the first one. We go in the school, we go into this, meet with each head teacher, and you know, tell them like what we're doing. Like I'm, I'm re I'm a pastor from America, and I'm here for Born to Shine, which is, a ministry for children with disabilities and their families showing they're born to shine for Jesus.


[00:05:16]
 And I go in and visit the classroom and pray over the students. And we did that times six different times that first day. So you're like, you know, on the like jet lag, what? Like, forget it, you know? So I was just getting on it. 'cause you know, there was like. Not a lot of time to waste and, and as I was starting to visit each school, the different, the, what I kept hearing was they were so grateful just for someone to come. That was specifically a pastor, is what they said because they said no one had a pastor had never visited the special needs. Schools and the special needs unit. And when I heard that, I was like, oh my gosh.


[00:05:58]
Never, never. And I, you know, and sometimes you're like, really? Because like, I feel that would be popular to go to Tanzania or Tanzania, you know, since I'm kind of from there now. Now that's what adopted, that's what they, what they call it there. Yeah. But when I hear that. You know, without a doubt that you're like, God did speak this to me. You know, for, oh, I'm, you know, for like such a time as this. You just are like, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And it was just such a great confirmation. and I see why God was bothering me so much to go back, and I think a lot of it too, I. They didn't even really, I didn't have anything to give them monetary. It's not like, people were wanting money or this or that. They just wanted prayer. They wanted joy. Like every time you go in the classroom, someone would break out into a dance. They had a song prepared. I'm sure you guys.


[00:07:01] Travis Revelle
Saw a lot of my social media, I followed you on social media, so it was amazing. 


[00:07:03] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah, you guys, everybody, you have it, it's just a, there's always a song, you know, and a welcome, and there it was just so beautiful. And as I just started to be there and embraced that, I felt, I felt myself so like, loved and accepted, you know, and embraced. And it was an immediate, like I texted someone, a friend of mine after, and I was like, I was just like, you know, when you feel like someone's spun you, I could do it right now. Spun you around in a chair, and you're like, whoa. Like that was like one of the best days of my entire life. 


[00:07:37] Dr. Nate Salah
Wow. Mm-hmm. You know what's interesting about, first of all, praise God. It just reminds me, one of my favorite parts of scripture where the post resurrected Jesus and. Is gone and you have the disciples, and there's a guy who's paralyzed, and James and John, I'm sorry, Peter and, and and John are walking by the guy and what they say because he asked them for help and they say this, that, you know, silver and gold, we have none, but what we have, we give to you freely. Of course. Then the next thing they say is, take up your mat. How beautiful is that, that you give freely of whatever it is that you have, you know, you gave freely, because you don't have to have the treasures, right? If you have the time, right? Give the time. If you have the talents, give the talents. Just give freely. Just give, because it was given to you freely. It was given freely to you. Mm-hmm. 


[00:08:42] Rihannon Beauchamp
Absolutely. Exactly that. And sometimes you're like, what is, is this enough? You know? But. If God wants you to do it, it's more than enough. You know? And I, I was just, it was so cool, like the humility too of everybody, of, and really to the teachers was something that really stuck out to me. Like the special needs teachers that are just so touched by it, you know? I know. you know, because they, they are working with those kids on a daily basis and trying to, you know, find hope, trying to find resources. One of the schools, they told me that they needed, six different wheelchairs. So that's something that I'm gonna be working on, being able to do with them to provide those six different wheelchairs.


[00:09:28]
 And then I saw this other boy named Evan on the way out. He needed a new wheelchair. He was just getting too big for it, but it was neat to be able to see that. And see like, okay, here's something like that can be done for next time. And so then I went and visited a place there that was, they make wheelchairs, devices, for dis disabled children. And it was amazing. Like it's called Kero assistive tech. And it was really neat to visit them because they were making up all the, the chairs, and then they were in the back like doing, a lot of the different stuff for the other devices, depending on what the kids need. And then the ladies were sewing different stuff to put on the back to make it look like real beautiful and nice.


[00:10:08]
 And each chair's only around $200. So I mean, that's USD, so it's like. Wow. Like that's definitely able to be, you know, doable. Like, yeah. And then they showed me, like, where you can put like a little, your logo on it. So I was like envisioning, I was like, oh, let's say like board to shine with a scripture. And then I was like, thinking of them like, you know, going through and having their chair and someone coming and seeing it. Like, oh, what's that? You know? But when we were visiting the different schools, we were asking everyone like, are you coming to the party? You know, 'cause the, you go on. I went on Thursday, and the party was on Saturday, so it was like, Hey, you know, and they were all preparing, each school had prepared a song and a performance to perform at Born to Shine, so they were just really excited.


[00:10:55] Dr. Nate Salah
That's so cool. Yeah. Now, now, tell us, tell us what types of special needs that are that you experience there.


[00:11:02] Rihannon Beauchamp
So there were a lot of children with cerebral palsy and a lot of children, that just had some, like, they couldn't move their legs. A lot of two, they don't really know exactly the diagnosis of some of them, the what exactly is wrong with them. So when you ask, they don't know specifically. Maybe like whatever we would say now. What I saw, though, however, is I was like, okay, if we mix some like faith with providing some care, like I have some like big dreams of like getting them some, you know, physical rehab, like setting this up. I really think, like we have here, they, I think a lot of them could walk or progress, or you know, obviously, and we know too, God's Jesus is a healer. A hundred percent. Yeah. So he could heal. And a lot of deaf children, there's a lot of deaf, a lot of autism, like extreme autism. And so they're just working with them trying to, you know, provide them the best case, you know, scenario like for bettering their lives, you know?


[00:12:03] 
And so that's something that I wanna be a part of, is helping their quality of life through them realizing. Jesus said they are not cursed. First of all, and I talked about this last time, a lot of people in Africa, believe that you are cursed if you have a special needs or disabled child that you know, so you're dealing with shame, you're dealing with Why did this happen? A lot of them, it's a 80%, Muslim area where the, even in the city, they play the. Allah prayer calls, you know, you can hear him from the mosques mm-hmm. All over the city. So it was neat to be invited in and being able to, be accepted by mostly Muslim, you know, individuals. 


[00:12:45] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. And, and you know, Jesus, Jesus dealt with this, right? He, he dealt with this very same thing mm-hmm. Where it was people said, oh, you know, you're a leper. You're, you're cursed. And this is still going on today. Right. We still look at that. Yeah. And when Jesus, he responded very clearly, it's like this, this isn't because you were cursed, it's not because your parents were cursed. Yeah. Right. This is, this allows God's love mm-hmm. To manifest. 


[00:13:12] Rihannon Beauchamp
Absolutely. 


[00:13:13] Dr. Nate Salah
So, so how do we respond to that? That's really the key. It's not about like, you know, who, who did what in your, mm-hmm. In your lineage, right? Mm-hmm. It's about right now. What can we do to meet your needs? Right where you are. That's what Jesus said then, and it's still relevant today. 


[00:13:29] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah, absolutely. Another thing that was really, I did not know that I learned because I was also going to learn and going to see it was a discovery type. You know, we talked about that like it was this still a discovery, God, what could I you use before I was like looking for things. And one of the things I didn't know about was the, albino children. So, the lady I was with that started the SCDI that I was working with, the special, need, the special safe home for children with disabilities inclusive is what that stands for. And, she connected us to AHA School, which had the albino unit. They are, they live there in a boarding school, and they have a matron who, she's also albino, and she takes care of them. And I guess a couple years ago, from what I learned, it was a very big deal happening is that the albino children were being hunted, and oh my goodness, they believed that there was a witchcraft or a type of belief to where if you could cut, you cut off like a finger or something from the albino child that you could put it on like your sayer farm, or you put it on your land, and it would give you provision and it would help you increase. So the children went through you know, major persecution. 


[00:14:46]
Major persecution. So now it's calmed down, they said, but to be able to visit them and then their, their ma matron that takes care of them. She is a Christian, and she's teaching them these songs about Jesus, and they all like, oh, it's just so beautiful, like these songs about shining their lights for Christ, and you know, you hear about a lot of the, the children of how some of them are from like Masai tribes and which, there's a lot of people that were in Born To Shine as well, that were from Masai Tribe. So they're, this isn't just like, oh, you know, down the line how we hear they're really in the Masai tribe, you know? And they, you know, were. Just being in a safe place. So another thing to be able to be in the sporting school. So another thing that I was able to do with the things that people donated, which you guys am so grateful you guys contributed into this, is that, I heard that the ma, the matron that was taking care of them, she was telling me how she really wanted to go to this conference to learn how to protect.


[00:15:49]
 To the albino kids even more. And I was like, but she didn't have the money. And I said, well, how much is it? And it was only $300. So I said, well, here, I'm going to bless you with this, you know, from like the contribution. Mm-hmm. So that was another thing. Come on to get to contribute into this. She's gonna get to go. And she was so excited, you know? 


[00:16:07] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. This is so important and, and you think about it, Travis, you've got young children, right? Think about, okay, kids get bullied and that's, that's terrible. Just imagine if one of your children was being hunted, right? 


[00:16:19] Travis Revelle
No, it's insane. I mean, it, it's, it's like, could even fathom it actually, you can't ki you can't, you can't conceptualize that.


[00:16:24] 
Yeah. Right. Like you can't conceptualize that and the trauma that that causes on these kids for their entire life. It's not like you can hide if you're an albino child. Yeah. In Africa. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you're gonna stick out, you know, it's, yeah. That's, it's heavy. It's it's heavy, right? It's heavy. 


[00:16:43] Dr. Nate Salah
What, what, what's, it's so important, and if you're listening, and you have children and you, maybe you're here in the west, if you find it appropriate, let your children listen to. They need to pray too. We need to teach our kids how to pray for those who are in desperate situations. 


[00:16:59] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Start young. Like right now, just maybe just stop the, the, the podcast and pray with your family. For these families mm-hmm. Who need us to bind to one another and bind to them to help them in their trials. That's what needs to happen right now. 


[00:17:19] Rihannon Beauchamp
Agree. Yeah. Yeah. There's power in prayer. There's power too, and awareness to know what is happening. Like all beyond. Even just the bubble that we're in sometimes, you know? And not that it's just like overwhelming for us. I know someone asked me before they're like. Isn't it just too much for you to see all of this and too overwhelm? I mean, I said it's it, it isn't though. 'cause I feel like I feel really called to it, but also like they're just so joyous. They're not walking around like, oh who am, I'm just sad. I'm made the sweat. Like in ways, you know, they're just, they are seem content with what they have and in their situations, you know, at least in my interactions. ‘Cause I know when. My interactions are I see 'em, they're like, ah, you know, excited and having fun. So, you know, when you're trying to also really dig in and see like, what's your life like? What are you going through? How, how does this make you feel? What is your belief? You know? So I was trying to, as much as I could, put the name of Jesus in front of them.


[00:18:20]
 Another thing was I got to go visit and I talked about this time I, I got to go visit. The some homes. So we did home visits of the children in the center. So, let me explain that real quick. So there is a center that is the people that I met and partnered with and she is amazing, has started, saw this need that there were children in the slums that not have a place to receive basically like a daycare safe home environment. For dis people with disabilities 'cause so their parents were having to leave them at home or just leaving them kind of unattended because they were trying to do, make some money, you know, and have, keep the family going and stuff. So, they would leave some of the kids unattended. So they started finding like this, they started this safe home for the children to be able to have a place where they can be safe, they can have great people to take care of them. And also, like now as they're building stuff up, trying to find them some care and stuff. So anyways, getting to go and see some of those children's home that I had met before.


[00:19:22]
 And I just love, like, there's this girl, Miriam, and she is, she's just my favorite. Like I, I look at, you know, when you're in bed and you're trying to go to sleep, you start looking at old pictures. I just like, I'm away just. I love Miriam so much and I feel responsible, you know, and you feel responsible for her, like people. And so I had learned before that she was being left. some and it wasn't 'cause her parents don't love. That's the thing. The parents are involved in the CI scenarios. I know there's also like orphans, like I had not yet visited the orphans. Like, I didn't go to an orphanage this time, which I want to again. And we know there's tremendous amounts of, or orphanage. I'm working with kids that have parents, and they're, and getting to work with the parents, which I feel really passionate about because I can help them. 'cause they're like you and I, they don't have a disability of like, so getting to work with them. So getting to go see them at their home, get seeing like. Their business, the little business they started, different things like that were really awesome. But hearing like someone like Miriam, who in the past she, had been like abused sexually because she was left. And that's not super common, you know, in, in Africa from what I've heard.


[00:20:38]
 But, I'm just so thankful that the Ester who started this safe home had this, you know, that was definitely from Jesus to create this thing that people come to for free. And the problems right now they're facing are like. Costs and needs for transportation to get some of the kids there, which we had sponsored some kids to get transportation. Like Miriam, I made sure she had transportation. There was another boy named Jordan, we sponsored. and there was like, there's a handful of kids. So that's what's important. But the biggest need right now would be like for them is a bus. Like, you know, to get like an actual transportation. Because how they were finding the children was they go out in like a home visit and like they would notice like a kid playing. That's how they met Miriam. She was out playing by herself, and she was obviously Down syndrome, and they're just like, oh, who is she? Why is she by herself? And then they go in and. find the, the mama, which if your, your, your name, I'd ask like the moms like, what's your name? And it wouldn't be like, what?


[00:21:39]
 Like, my name is Rihannon. Your mama of your firstborn kid there. So your mama, Miriam. So go to, you know, and Mama Miriam says, you know, oh, she's playing this and this. And they say, we have this. Safe home we would love for her to come to. And they said sometimes the parents needed like some convincing because they're just like, what is this? You know, kind of thing. So that kind of is shows like why, but I, why, why they did that. But also I thought it was like so cool how it's like you're on a mission. I even like walked through the slums and stuff, and you just, if you think on, like if you're, oh, if I see a kid that has disability that, that you can give them a place to go 


[00:22:17] Dr. Nate Salah
When you were walking through the slums. Mm-hmm. What was that like? How did you feel at first?


[00:22:23] Rihannon Beauchamp
Well, I was with Ster and I was also with, Reagan. and there's, they're phenomenal. So I felt like safe and, you know, like that type, like I didn't feel, but I just felt like, okay, this is just how people are living. I think to a lot of people, I mean, it's, you go in their home, and it's basically a couple of them was just, you know. Like one of the homes was smaller than this studio, you know? So I mean, it's the whole home, a half, probably a half of this studio, and it's like one bed on one side, one bed on the other side. And it was like the grandma. One of the girls, Noreen, that was the one we visited, and then the mom. So it's like they, they sleep here, but I mean then, then also too, they all wash their clothes by hand, you know, and hang them up. So I think that's something we forget too, that, because I remember I'd ask like. Oh, can they wear their t-shirts the next day? And it was like, oh, I'm not sure if they'll be dry by then. And then for a second I was like, well, can't they? And then I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, you know, you're just, mm-hmm. You know, getting out of our usual. It's different, and they're not like thinking like. They're not bothered by it. That's just like something, it's 


[00:23:34] Dr. Nate Salah
Just, it's just the way, it's a way of life. 


[00:23:35] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. Mm-hmm. 


[00:23:37] Dr. Nate Salah
You think about that though; you think about like if you were to transplant one of those individuals to come stay with you for a week here in the United States. 


[00:23:46] Travis Revelle
What would their experience probably blow their mind, right? 


[00:23:48] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. All. It would blow their mind. 


[00:23:51] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. I mean like, yeah, first they probably first like, what do you nail this space for? Yeah. Right. Yeah. 


[00:23:55] Rihannon Beauchamp
And so since it's in the people, the individuals that I'm working with right now, other than if, say you're in the, out in the village areas like the. Like more, and I haven't been out there yet, and I'm planning on going, next time I go. But they, they do see some city life. So it's not like they don't see, because there's also like a Pizza Hut, A KFC, like they're more in the city. I. once somebody had asked me that as well, like, what's the thought on like, oh, well, is it better if like, say you had the opportunity to bring like a child back and adopt a kid or this or that, and I said, well, sometimes you have to see, like it actually might be way better for them just to assist them and where they're at. Like, it's not like a. Bad life. You know, like as far as like the, if that makes sense.


[00:24:46] Dr. Nate Salah
You don't have to rescue them. Yeah. Into Western, right, 


[00:24:49] Rihannon Beauchamp
Right, right. Yeah. 


[00:24:51] Travis Revelle
We provide, provide for their needs that they have in their current life, and we as we, as Westerners, need to.


[00:24:54] Dr. Nate Salah
Wrap our minds around that a little bit, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because we tend to think, oh, well it's, it's so much better. Our Western civilization Yeah. Is so much better. And reality is it's what we know, but sometimes it's not always better. 


[00:25:11] Travis Revelle
Yeah. It's not, I mean, it's, it's the culture they have, it's the families that they have, it's the traditions that they have, it's everything they have. Right. So it's, I think you're doing the right thing. It's, it's identifying what are, what are the. The small things that end up being huge things, right? Mm-hmm. So, a $200 wheelchair, right? Like we spend $200 a month at Starbucks. I, yeah, like, I mean, just like the thought of, you know, $200, but that $200 invested into life wheelchair is life-changing for that individual. So when we talk about like, how do you make an impact on the world, right? Mm-hmm. Like, this is an easy way to make a huge impact on the world mm-hmm. Without a lot of effort. On our part. Mm-hmm. To say, I'm not gonna go to Starbucks this month. Right. I'm just gonna drink coffee from home because I want, I want a kid in Africa to be able to have a wheelchair and be able to move around.


[00:26:01]
 Yes. And that child knows that that's coming through Jesus. Yes. Right. And is impacting them. And it's not me doing it. Yes. It's just. Flowing through me to do that. And what does that do? Not only to that child but to that family? Yeah. Right. To the friends that are around the family community. Mm-hmm. To the rest of the tribe. Mm-hmm. Or to the rest of the rest of the, the, the, the culture that is there. They start seeing that, and they start seeing, it's not Pastor Rihannon who's making this impact. Mm-hmm. It's, Jesus is making this impact on us and making our lives better. Come on. 


[00:26:33] Rihannon Beauchamp
Amen. That is exactly it. Nailed it. You nailed it. And that is my exact heart. And. Vision of it because I wanted them like I was repeatedly like, this is from Jesus. Jesus sees you Jesus. And it's that ripple effect Yes that you're talking on. Because what I love there too. Is they were so willing to help out each other? Like I love Mrs. Nja, that from the SCDI, because she wasn't just trying to get everything from me. She could get only for the kids she was taking care of. She was freely taking me around. Every school, every person, she's like, well, I know a kid in this that needs something. So she was, everyone's so trying to help each other, not trying to help themselves. And then it is the ripple effect because. Someone is so excited to see a kid get this and because they feel like it was done for them, and I just thought that that was so cool. It's so selfless. 


[00:27:33] Dr. Nate Salah
You know, we've been talking about in our community our, our Great Summit Academies G three program, the last. Several months on what it means to be holy. And we've been focusing on really the last couple weeks of, of our lives, if you will, like a God's garden. Mm-hmm. And this is so relevant to that teaching as we talk about the soil of our lives and sometimes we hear these stories and we think. Yeah, but what kind of difference can I make or what would I have to give up? And we've been meditating on where Jesus talks about the, the, the, the, the seed that has to die and be buried for good seed to be taken root and to bear good fruit. And, you know, in our lives, like you talked about the Starbucks, right? And I'm not saying that anyone needs to, you know, give up all their Starbucks for the month, right? God is calling to release. Mm-hmm. Something, mm-hmm. That we're holding onto that is prohibiting us from planting a good seed in the soil of our hearts that will sprout new life because you have to give something up. To be generous, you have to give up your time. You have to give up some level of security.


[00:28:55]
Right. But what you do is you do it in faith, and you do it because you've already received the free gift of God's love. Mm-hmm. Of God's grace to go out and turn around and pour it out somebody else. So, like, in this moment, I just, I, I just wanna pause because we, you know, when Paul talks about, examine yourself, right? Especially before you take community and you take the Lord's Supper, and this self-examination is really about, Lord, I know that there's more. There's more that's in me that you've given me to turn around and give and bless others with. And just take a moment to pause and see what is it, right? What is it? And we've all been doing that in our community, but spending time evaluating it.


[00:29:40] Travis Revelle
Well, I think, and I think the, the important part is, is it is easy to, to just think, I don't know how to help. Right. But then when you have somebody who comes on who is like, it's $200 for a wheelchair. You know what I mean? It's all of a sudden it's, it's becomes applicable to your life. And you can say, I can go without $200. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Like most violations probably do that several times over, right? I'll commit to a wheelchair. I'll commit to a You commit to wheelchair, wheelchair. 


[00:30:08] Dr. Nate Salah
Absolutely. Praise God. Absolutely. Right? That's it. And, and that's part of it. That's all it takes. It's a commitment. It's, and, and it's not, you don't commit a loan because it's easy to say, oh yeah. You know, that's a great idea. And then what happens? Life happens. Life happens. Then the weeds start to pull up around life, and then the good seed never gets planted. Right? Yeah. Or maybe in intention is there?


[00:30:26] Travis Revelle
Yeah. The intention is there, but you've gotta have the follow through and actually act on it. Yes. Yeah. 


[00:30:30] Dr. Nate Salah
So when you commit to your brother and sister on air. Yeah. Right. And it's not because you're doing it because you want to show your own. You know, whatever it is, like your vanity or whatnot, it's really just to say, here's an example of how obedience works. In the moment. So, you know, then we, what do we do? We just, each Venmo $200. And then life goes on. Life goes on, right? Mm-hmm. And then re comes back, and she says, boy, lemme tell you about 


[00:31:01] Travis Revelle
Miriam and the wheelchair that you got from Miriam and how this has impacted her life. Mm-hmm. And impacted her family.


[00:31:06] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. And everything. It's priceless. It's like those, there's so, there's so many things that we sow into that are eternal, that has such a huge return that we will see one day, you know that yes, they're eternal. 


[00:31:18] Dr. Nate Salah
And the key to that eternal value is stopping. We are so busy in life, man. This is the Western way. It's so busy. Everything is on the go and on the move, and it's like, oh, boom, boom, boom. Just stop. Make some space right now if you see a need and act on it. In faith, not saying, I don't know. Well, we don't know what that is. Of course, you wanna pray. Mm-hmm. Right. But just don't, like, don't let the life just continue to move on without, because if God puts something in front of you. Yeah. And says, Hey, look, I'm calling. Don't let God go to voicemail. Answer the call. Yeah. 


[00:31:56] Rihannon Beauchamp
Right. Yeah. And sometimes, it's a sacrifice. Yeah. On the other side of it, you know, I've had friends who have been like, oh yeah, you know, I was at church one day and I had, you know, like, you know, I had all my money I made during the week and, and I was just moved in the, in the, in, in the message. And I just put it all in, in the, in the offering pot. I'm like, well, did you pay your bills? No. What about your mortgage and your family and all this other stuff? Well, you know, right? I just acted in faith. There's discernment that also goes into that because I, I wanna make sure we, we don't just not think because what is, what does the Bible say to renew your mind, right? Yeah. So, think you must be thinking the same time, you know when God is calling you, and if you're unclear on that, God's will is in God's word. Get deeper in the word. Get deeper in the word, and that's where you spend your time to discern, right? Yeah. 'cause these aren't easy decisions for you. Yeah. No, I, I, and I do was a step out in faith, you know, to go and to do all this. And it definitely was God 'cause too, when we, I didn't get to this part yet. And I feel like there's just so much to tell. I could sit here forever. Well, we do, we'll do, we'll do multiple parts. 


[00:33:05]
Yes. But we did the Born to Shine party. We had, so we had one. The first one was in September, and I shared on that. This one was in April, and we had 400 people come that participated 400 in the last time before we had 200. So it doubled and. It was amazing. We had nine schools participate, the ones that I had gone and visited earlier in the week. And, and they performed songs, and we honored the mothers and, gave them special gifts. And we had a delicious meal that, that they, the volunteers cooked and it was such a joyous time, and also it rained the whole time. And so then you're wondering, you're like. God, I prayed that it wouldn't rain, so why is it raining? You know, we all have those things too, of you're just like, why wouldn't it just be a sunny day? And why wouldn't it just be, but I really believe, as I was just watching, nobody cared at all. Nobody. Everyone was just dancing the rain. We were so muddy. Because we were outside, obviously I didn't show that we had rented out four different tents and, made it look, you know, nice. And we had a DJ system. Yeah. And, but it was so neat to see that, that nobody cared that people were just dancing in the rain. 


[00:34:22] Dr. Nate Salah
And, well, two things happened each day. Two things happened. At least two things. One thing that happened was. The farmers who were praying for rain, they got the rain they needed. That's true. The second thing that happened is that God's will for your lives to walk in joy, could not be inhibited by any kind of weather.


[00:34:40] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah. Amen. 


[00:34:42] Dr. Nate Salah
Those are two good things that happened that day. 


[00:34:44] Rihannon Beauchamp
Absolutely. It's all our perspective.


[00:34:45] Dr. Nate Salah
It is, you know, that's a lot of things that Jesus does. What what does Jesus do? You know, he changes our perspective. He says things in a way that gets us to think differently, and he literally turns it all upside down. We just, we just recorded an episode on what does it mean to be blessed. Right. Blessed it are. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, this idea of blessed isn't necessarily that you had a sunny day. Right. Blessed it is that you got to fellowship. Yeah. With those individuals in the mud and in the room. I'm sure the kids didn't mind either.


[00:35:16] Rihannon Beauchamp
Oh no. And I think too, that's a part A, a maturity in your faith when I've seen people a lot, and maybe I did this like in the past, where something didn't go exactly how I wanted. You know? And even in when you're in ministry and doing, you know, I have a history of doing, I've done. Hundreds of student events of, you know, hundreds of kids at a time and very well, many things would you want it to be? Because it means so much to you, so. And then I remember in the past where I would, it didn't go exactly. I thought it wasn't as perfect as I, and sometimes I would almost feel disappointed, you know, not so much in God, but just in, it just wasn't what I thought. So then you're having to fight past that, and then you're just realizing, okay, this isn't even what it's about at all. And you know, looking for God in it, you know? So I thought that that was a cool thing for me to, of just, I'm like, I just. This is just so enjoyable in every single way for everyone there. It was such a huge success, and we had, also hold, hold on one second.


[00:36:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Okay. Hold on. That's really important. Most of our disappointments are because of expectations. Right. I mean, I always say that, that our expectations fuel satisfaction, and the point you're making is critical for every listener, for all of us, because we often want things to go a certain way. And if they don't go the way that we want, it's ironic to even say that because like God's like, seriously. Right. Right. Seriously. Oh, okay. You're in charge. It's your shit. I mean, it almost, it sounds almost like so incredibly childlike. 


[00:36:59] Travis Revelle
But it's the reality. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 


[00:37:01] Dr. Nate Salah
It's the reality. Yeah. And, and here's, here's where I wanna just land on this, because when we're struggling with expectations, unmet expectations, there's one phrase in, in scripture that, that I believe is critical and essential here in this space. And it's, we, we know Paul is crying out to God really about this thorn in his side, some kind of, whether it's a physical ailment, whether it's emotional, whether it's mental, whether whatever it might be, there's, he has. A problem, and he has a desire for it to be different, right? Because that's what our expectation. We want this to be different. There's a dissatisfaction, and here's what happens in that moment. Jesus speaks to him, and he says the most profound words when it comes to our expectations in the history of humankind. My grace is sufficient. Mm-hmm. My power is made perfect. 


[00:38:02]
If my grace is enough to cover every expectation and it is. Then there should be nothing that you are hindered by in any of your experiences in life. Because the truth of the matter is if we really believe that, if we really believe that my grace, that God's grace is sufficient, think about his grace, unmerited favor for all eternity. That is so incredibly sufficient to fuel us for the rest of turn ever. Yeah. So, with that in mind, the problem is we forget it. We forget it. But if we, if we lived in that, like you're like brains shine, whatever flight makes it, doesn't make it right. Mm-hmm. Doesn't matter. 'cause grace is efficient. That's it. I live in that. That's the fuel, that's the fuel for our lives. And don't, Hey, look. I gotta be, you know, just take a moment. I don't always live there. I want to, I want to. And if we can, the perspective on everything changes. I mean everything, every issue we face, every argument we have, every milestone that we didn't hit. Now that's a, that doesn't mean that we don't work out our salvation with fear and trembling, right? It doesn't mean that we don't continue to move in the direction. It doesn't mean we're sloths and say, well, you know, who cares? Right. It's not that. It's that we live in this, the security of his love that's poured out through the grace, it's a game changer. It's literally, it's, it's, it's the, it's the next level, and that's what I'm, that's why what you, what you say about that rain is so important because we get rain all the time in our lives. My grace is sufficient because that sufficiency of grace. 


[00:39:58] Rihannon Beauchamp
Amen. 


[00:39:59] Dr. Nate Salah
Don't even gimme an umbrella. 


[00:40:02] Rihannon Beauchamp
I know. And you, and it's awesome when you, the Holy Spirit will remind you of your growth. 'cause it will remind you of, in the past of times when you would've been like, oh man, or stressed out, or, oh my gosh, looking at the whatever. Is this gonna work out when you're just like you know what, God, you've got this, and I'm gonna, you know, do my best at what I can control and then trust you with everything else? You know, I mean, divine riches for all eternity.


[00:40:28] Dr. Nate Salah
I, I just can't think of a better, like, perspective, like, you know, your, your perspective on everything shifts with that and that and that, and that's, that's the hope you bring because when you're dealing with situations mm-hmm. That are dire mm-hmm. And people are suffering. Mm-hmm. It is very difficult in the physical, in the, especially, you know, the physical, mental, emotional, I dunno about you. I've had physical ailments, not to that level. Travis, you've had major, I mean, you know, major physical ailments that have debilitated you in the past, and when you're, when you're, when you're in that space, number one, you don't wanna patronize people. But number two, you want, you want there to be hope. 


[00:41:16] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah, I know. That's what I do. I just want them so badly to have hope. And God doesn't just give hope. He is hope. Mm-hmm. Jesus is hope. So the only way to have any hope, you know, the hope that overflows is through knowing Jesus and knowing that. He has an abundant supply of that for you. You know, and there's so much. That he like the future he has, the prosperity has, which can look different than just a financial thing. Like there's so much in prosperity. And, and the thing too, as you were saying about you don't know if I, I actually have been, I have been blessed in, I have never had a physical issue or health issue. Praise God. I hurt my knee once playing basketball when I was old. You a hooper. You a hooper? Yes. I play basketball. All right. Yeah. I love basketball and I shouldn't have been playing so hard. And I was the only girl, and I was just, don't, you know, when you just go too hard, you try make sense, go too hard. And I'm like, I'm not letting up here, Uhuh. And so anyways, I, I, that's it. That's nothing either. So, and someone I remember once said, I, I bet whoever started this.


[00:42:26]
Because everything about Born to Shine is actually someone who's was talking about the St. Louis one. I bet whoever started this Born to Shine knew what it was like. For people with disabilities, or it must have been someone that knew what it was. And I was like, saw that and I thought, I don't know what it's like, but God gave me this burden of just for, for them to have hope. And I don't know, and I never, you know, will fully be able to know. But even if you have not experienced yourself, the Lord will sometimes give you like a, a burden or a, for that in particular thing. And that's the only way I know it might be. That's just how, the only way I can explain it, I guess, because I don't, I haven't been through stuff physically like you're saying, you've experienced.


[00:43:16] Dr. Nate Salah
And, and some of that, yeah, as you said, is the manifestation of God's power. We have to view it as that because when his grace is truly, truly sufficient, you can walk through fire. Believe that we gotta have a part two. Amen. Let's have a part two. 


[00:43:29] Rihannon Beauchamp
Yeah, because we're just not even halfway through. You tell us about the story. I know there are like, I won't say, wait, there are a lot more things to no more. Wait, wait, wait, wait. No. Spoiler alerts. Okay. 


[00:43:37] Dr. Nate Salah
Part two coming up next week. 


[00:43:39] Rihannon Beauchamp
Okay, cool. I'm down for a part two. 


[00:43:41] Dr. Nate Salah
We'll do it. Thanks for being here. 


[00:43:43] Rihannon Beauchamp
Thank you guys so much. I'm just so grateful for everyone taking the time to listen to this and your heart to be expanded and enlightened, to know things that are going on. I appreciate the prayers for all these families and this beautiful city of Orosia that's just so full of life, and God has so much in store. I'm telling you, it's just literally the beginning, so… 


[00:44:06] Dr. Nate Salah
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, my friend, we did it again. I'm so glad you joined me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been with me on the show listening in, you'll know this, but if you're new, you may not know that I created a free course for you, that you don't need to provide an email address. You don't need to go anywhere. But to stay right here in the podcast, I created the very first six episodes of the podcast because I wanted you to have the kind of value that you need to take advantage of to thrive as a leader. If you haven't done that yet, listen to episodes one through six. I'll see you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, and this is A Call to Leadership.

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